Just Between Us
by ajanep94
Summary: Ezria missing scene from Season 4 - set a few weeks ahead in the storyline. One shot.


**All characters belong to Sara Shepard and/or ABC Family. I own nothing. **

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**Just Between Us **

She can feel the cool breeze from the slightly open window wash over her, dispelling the heat from the sunlight that's streaming into the room. Aria basks in it for a minute longer, letting the warmth of the bed and the quiet of the morning envelop her. Then she sighs and shifts, opening her eyes just a fraction.

Yes. She really is here.

Inwardly she groans. Great idea this was.

She adjusts her eyes to focus on the stillness of Ezra Fitz's apartment. The aftermath of the night before is clear from the empty bottle of wine on the coffee table and the clothes strewn about the floor. She stretches out to glance at the time.

6:36 am

She flops onto her back and stares at the ceiling. Shit.

'Aria?'

His voice is loud and makes her jump.

'Yeah?'

'What are you doing?' Ezra sounds groggy and tired. When she doesn't respond, his hand reaches out and wraps around her waist, pulling her in close to his chest.

She tenses. But then she figures that the damage is already done. She smiles secretly to herself and nuzzles closer to him, inhaling the familiar scent of his skin.

'Just checking the time, but it's only six-thirty,' she murmurs, 'I don't know how we're up so early when...'

'…we went to bed so late?' He chuckles in response.

She moves so that she's hovering over him and bumps her nose up against his. She kisses him gently. Slowly. Languidly.

'We said we were going to talk this morning,' Ezra whispers against her lips.

She kisses him again and giggles, 'We can talk if you want to.'

He pushes her away gently, 'You broke up with me, Aria.'

She sighs because he's right. It's not what she wants to be reminded of right now, though. Now, all she wants is to stay in this little bubble of bliss for a while longer. Not to have to think. But he's right. They really do need to talk.

'I don't know what to say,' she admits. She looks into his eyes but then has to look away again and sit up. She should never have come here last night. She could have lived without the two shirts she'd left in his dresser (although she is now glad that she has something to change into this morning). She curls herself up, letting the sheets slip a little. As she rests her chin on her knees, she tries to ignore his fingers gently running up and down her back.

He's letting her think, because he's like that. Also, he's probably a little afraid of what she might say. She knows she's put herself in an impossible situation. She shouldn't have come here. He shouldn't have offered her a glass of wine. She shouldn't have taken it. They shouldn't have sat down together on the couch and allowed themselves to talk and laugh about inconsequential things. He shouldn't have kissed her and she shouldn't have let him.

But now they're here. It's 6.36 am on a Saturday morning and they're simultaneously right next to each other and a thousand miles apart.

She reaches behind her and takes his hand; bringing it up to her lips to kiss it before placing it gently back down on the bed between them.

All she can think of to say is, 'I'm really sorry.'

He doesn't have an answer for that. She should be. He has never stopped loving her for a moment. He has respected her wishes and kept his distance. Then she turns up out of the blue and expects him to just go with it. Which of course he would always do, because he couldn't ever say no to her.

It's not really her fault either. It's understandable that at her age (seventeen, which is another fact he's trying to ignore) she would want to run away and hide at the thought of his five year old son. He wants to as well.

He's trying his best to do the right thing, but he doesn't want to. He didn't ask for any of this. He feels totally trapped and he's angry. Why should he have to take responsibility for a stupid mistake made when he was a kid? But he does. He's already fallen in love with Malcolm, but the selfish part of him wishes that none of this had ever happened. He wants a family that isn't broken. Considering the childhood he had, all he's ever wanted is to give his children a mom and dad who love and respect each other. A family who live in the same house and eat dinner around the kitchen table. Where the fights are about chores and homework. No steps and halves and 'see you next weekends'. He was going to do it properly.

But he's already screwed that up.

'Don't be sorry, Aria.'

'I feel like I'm using you,' she still can't really look at him.

'I don't blame you for not being able to keep your hands off me.'

At that, she cracks a smile. She turns her head slightly, making a strand of hair fall across her face. When he reaches up to tuck it behind her ear, she doesn't stop him.

'_This _was never our problem.'

She's right about that. For people who loved words, it was perhaps surprising that they communicated best without them. Their most difficult moments had been fixed with kisses. Last night they had been a little tipsy and at first had been almost hungry for each other. But when that had faded and intensity took over. Their rhythms always matched, their bodies knew each other better than their minds did.

'Aren't you seeing someone?'

At that, the mood changes. Aria goes red and pulls the sheet closer to her.

'How do you know about that?'

'I asked Hanna.'

She sighed, 'Yeah, I am…Well, I mean. I should probably end it.'

'Why would you end it? I didn't think you wanted to get back together.'

She's taken aback at that, 'I don't. I mean, I do. I want to be with you but not…I mean, nothing's changed.'

'It's okay, Aria. You don't have to explain that to me.'

'It's just - I cheated on him. I can't lie to him and I can't exactly tell him about this, so…'

'Hanna told me you're happy with him.'

She doesn't know what to say to that, except 'He's not you.'

'I'm aware of that.' He's curious, though, 'What's he like?'

'He's…much more macho than you are.'

Ezra throws his head back and laughs, 'I'm very macho.'

She gives him a sympathetic look.

'He doesn't wear sweater vests. And he doesn't read much. He's a self-defence instructor.'

'Sounds awful.'

Aria smiles, 'He's nice. He makes me laugh. I needed someone different.'

'Are you saying I'm not funny?'

'No, he's just more straightforward. It's so easy, being with him.'

Ezra nods, 'You deserve that.'

'So do you.'

They fall silent for a few seconds. But Aria can't resist.

'What about you and Maggie?'

He looks at her warily.

'What about Maggie and me?'

'I've just seen the two of you around town together.'

'It's nothing,' he says, 'I don't want to go there with her.'

'Why?'

'It's not fair to Malcolm. If I were going to be with Maggie, I would need to be prepared to say I was ready to commit to being a real family and, honestly, I just think it would end badly. I'm not ready.'

'Not ready for what?'

'To really call it quits on us.'

She reaches her hand across the mattress and intertwines her fingers with his; he strokes his thumb against the back of her hand.

'So why do you want me to keep seeing Jake?'

Ezra sits up properly and leans against the wall, keeping their hands linked, 'I wouldn't go so far as to say _want_.'

She takes this as her cue to lean into him again, tucking herself under his arm and twisting her legs up with his.

'I just think that you need to know what your options are. You deserve to enjoy your last few months of school. You need to go to college and have fun. You need to stop thinking about me.'

'What about you?'

'I'm not saying I wouldn't date. But I need to focus on my son and my job.'

'What about us?'

'If we want to, we'll find our way back,' it's a calculated thought based on very little evidence beyond a gut instinct. But at this point, it's the best he can hope for.

She thinks about that for a minute.

'I want to,' she whispers, 'I want to find my way back to you.'

'I hope that you do.'

She reaches up and kisses him fiercely. They've had their relapse now, there's no going back again once she leaves this morning. The bubble has to burst and they have to face the facts – that this incredibly intense feeling, the feeling that neither of them can attribute to anything but the presence of the other, has to become a memory. He pushes her back, flat against the mattress and they let themselves be overwhelmed by each other.

Later, when he's fallen asleep again, Aria quietly dresses. She leaves her key on the counter and slips out of Apartment 3B.

He finds a transfer request for him to sign on his desk on Monday morning – she's in Mrs Welch's class now. They don't speak to one another in the hallway.

He tries not to watch her have her photo taken with Jake at prom. He tries not to think about her when he's clapping and she's walking across the stage to get her diploma.

When September comes, he tries not to look her seat in his classroom, now occupied by someone else.

Four years later, when he runs into her mom at the market he hears that she's graduating from Stanford.

Two weeks later, he answers the phone late at night to hear a familiar voice on the end of the line.

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**This is not much more than a drabble really, but I was feeling sad feels so I decided to inflict them on others. **

**Reviews are always appreciated**

**anniejphoenix **


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